The present invention relates to moldable explosives.
During World War II the British introduced the use of an explosive composition, containing 91.+-. .07 percent RDX (cyclotrimethylenetrinitramine) and 9.+-. .07 percent beeswax, which was highly suitable for press loading. The beeswax has been replaced with a petroleum wax designated Grade A and the explosive composition is known to the military as A-3. Grade A is a micro-crystalline parafinic wax.
The wax is used to coat the particles and act as a binding agent when the composition is pressed. When coated on the particles, the wax desensitizes them to premature explosion from friction, shock and other stimuli.
A-3 is manufactured by heating a water slurry of RDX to nearly 100.degree. C with agitation. The wax is added and the slurry is allowed to cool with continued agitation until the wax solidifies. The solids are filtered and dried.
A-3 and related explosives are moldable and therefore suitable for press loading due to the flow properties imparted to the composition by the wax. In press loading, a container, commonly a bullet-shaped projectile, is loaded from the nose by adding layers of explosive then pressing each layer with a ramrod-like device. When pressed, the material must flow outward and upward to some degree to coat the wall of the container.
Pressloading may be carried out either at room temperature (cold pressing) or at elevated temperatures (hot pressing). A-3 is loaded by cold pressing, a safer and simpler technique.
Grade A wax being a petroleum derivative, has become considerably more expensive and difficult to obtain; a search for a substitute binder with desensitizing and flow properties equivalent to Grade A wax provided the impetus for the present invention.